PAUL T. SHIPALE (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara)
Weak accountability in Govt derails development
Former finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi said accountability must be elevated to the highest level if the country is to meet its national goals. He added that weak coordination among government institutions has hampered the country’s progress in several development areas. Speaking on his tenure as finance minister, as it was reported in one of the daily newspapers, Shiimi admitted that while Namibia has no shortage of well-crafted plans and strategies, implementation continues to fall short due to fragmented coordination.
Reflecting on his experience, Shiimi argued that the country’s success hinges on three fundamentals: a clear plan, measurable results, and strong institutional accountability. “The key is to have a concrete plan with measurable indicators and a clear institutional framework defining who manages it and who they report to. In this case, the steering committee reports to the Cabinet Committee, which I chair, and we report regularly to Cabinet,” he said.
Situating the problem under the eighth administration
The Eighth Administration, under President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, inherits a governance ecosystem shaped not only by constitutional design but by the accumulated habits, shortcuts, and norms of three decades of administrative practice. What this administration assumes control of is not merely an institutional framework but a deeply entrenched bureaucratic culture in which inefficiency has become routine, unremarkable, and at times treated as inevitable.
The President’s priorities of digital transformation, public-sector renewal, accountability, and citizen-centred service delivery signal an ambition to break with this legacy. But ambition without enforcement amounts to political theatre. The Administration’s credibility will hinge on whether it can strengthen performance management, administrative discipline, and transparency enough to disrupt a system that has learnt to function without consequences.
The stakes are institutional, not partisan.
The challenge is structural, not personal.
The core question is this: Will the eighth administration modernise the state or merely manage its dysfunction?
The invisible burden: when emotional atmospheres become administrative outcomes
Public institutions should serve as anchors of predictability and fairness. Yet across Namibia, citizens approach government offices with pre-emptively lowered expectations of slow service, unclear procedures, and staff who appear exhausted before lunchtime.
This is not a matter of individual temperament.
It is the predictable outcome of systemic design failure.
A public service steeped in structural inefficiency inevitably cultivates:
• defensive behaviours,
• low morale,
• chronic frustration, and
• a culture of “doing just enough”.
In essence, institutional dysfunction produces emotional dysfunction.
The quiet acceptance of failure
Namibia’s most persistent governance challenge is not inefficiency itself; it is the normalisation of inefficiency.
It survives because it is:
• rarely punished,
• seldom corrected,
• and almost never acknowledged as a systemic failure.
When citizens stop demanding better, and managers stop enforcing standards, inefficiency mutates from an operational defect into an organisational identity.
This is how a culture forms where:
• Missing files provoke shrugs, not investigations.
• Long queues are expected, not contested.
• Underperformance elicits sympathy, not intervention.
• Supervisors exist in title more than in practice.
Such conditions thrive because accountability is optional. Where Poor Attitudes Come From And Why Blaming Individuals Misses the Point
Bad service is almost never personal. It is institutional.
1. Emotional burnout in under-resourced environments
Outdated systems, unreliable tools, and overwhelming workloads create emotional fatigue that citizens absorb daily.
2. A system that does not distinguish excellence from negligence
Inconsistent performance enforcement means exemplary and disengaged workers often receive identical outcomes – a profound policy failure.
3. Leadership gaps and accountability vacuums
Weak middle management creates cascading inefficiency. Oversight becomes symbolic rather than functional.
4. Skills mismatch and stagnant professional development
Evolving mandates require modern training. Without it, skill insecurity breeds defensiveness and, eventually, conflict.
5. Cultural transmission of inefficiency
New staff learn from old patterns. Old patterns are seldom disrupted. Inefficiency becomes tradition.
This is not a people problem.
It is a governance and policy problem.
Where the system fails through gaps both loud and silent
1. Civil registration and documentation
A broken printer halting services in an entire region reflects deeper failures in contingency planning and administrative foresight.
2. Education and health systems
Budgets grow, outcomes stagnate. Weak monitoring and evaluation allow inefficiencies to hide behind expenditure.
3. Infrastructure project delivery
Deadlines drift, costs inflate, and explanations remain vague eroding public trust and competitiveness.
4. Business regulation and licensing
Fragmented, manual processes choke entrepreneurship. The cost of inefficiency becomes a national economic burden.
5. Environmental enforcement
Strong laws exist, but enforcement is inconsistent. Fragmented regulation enables ecological harm without consequence.
These deficiencies are not accidental; they are symptoms of structural permissiveness.
The hard political question is, who benefits from inefficiency?
Inefficiency persists because it serves specific interests:
• It shields underperformance.
• It protects weak managers.
• It obscures resource misallocation.
• It incubates corruption.
• It inconveniences citizens but rarely insiders.
A system that rewards inertia cannot generate innovation.
The Provocative Truth Namibia Must Confront
Namibia does not suffer from a capacity crisis. It suffers from an accountability crisis.
Vision 2030, industrialisation strategies, youth employment plans, and digital-government reforms risk remaining rhetorical if the institutions tasked with implementation operate with weak oversight and low expectations.
Accountability is not punitive; it is the oxygen of governance. Without it, reforms suffocate before reaching the citizen.
What must change now, not eventually
A credible reform agenda for the Eighth Administration should include:
1. Institutionalising performance management – Performance contracts must be enforced with real consequences and evaluated transparently.
2. Embedding digital transformation that reveals not masks inefficiency – technology should streamline processes and expose bottlenecks, not act as window dressing.
3. Rebuilding middle-management accountability – supervisors must supervise. Failure to manage should lead to replacement, not reassignment.
4. Continuous professional development – mandatory, ongoing training aligned with modern systems and public expectations.
5. Treating delays as governance failures – Every delay must trigger inquiry, not excuses.
6. Rewarding excellence while naming underperformance – recognition and consequences are essential tools of professional culture.
7. Investing in mental-health and psychological support – burnout cannot be solved through reprimand alone.
8. Bringing citizens into accountability – public complaints should inform structural reform, not be dismissed as noise.
Efficiency is not a luxury. It is a constitutional expectation of administrative justice.
Conclusion: disrupting the comfort of inefficiency
Namibia stands at a pivotal moment.
The eighth administration can redefine the ethos of public service, but only if it confronts the uncomfortable truth:
Inefficiency is not harmless.
It is a political, economic, and developmental threat.
To build a future-ready state, Namibia must:
• Reject inherited excuses,
• Demand administrative discipline,
• Transform accountability from rhetoric into practice.
The era of polite tolerance is over. The system will not repair itself. It must be disrupted.
And the eighth administration will ultimately be judged by whether it possessed not only the vision but also the discipline and courage to do so.
What is abnormal must never be accepted as normal. We cannot use our skin tone to excuse inefficiency, nor attribute our failures to the continent by labelling inefficiency as an African problem.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of our employers or this newspaper but are solely our personal views as citizens and Pan-Africanists.
